Some Months are Icky

October is done and gone. Thanks goodness. While there are some things to love about October- cooler nights with lingering warm days, visits from the in-laws, and Halloween those things were buried underneath an avalanche of stress and busywork.

First things first, I awoke on October first with a brand new bus company. And this bus company didn’t really see the value of me getting to my remote school. I’m still trying to figure out the implication of my new transportation schedule, no end in sight. But on the plus side, there’s a possibility that I may now be excused from teaching both 1st and 6th period… which leaves all 4 of my classes crammed into the remaining space, no prep period. Then there’s the paperwork and missed work that comes with beginning the enrollment process for Olive and buying that adorable but overpriced randoseru backpack. And then there was the workshop and the presentation and all the paperwork and e-mails connected with that, plus the one coming up in November that apparently needed everything at the same time as the workshop in October because Japan. Then there was the actual workshop which required a stupid early bus to the capital and lugging my rollycase all over the city. And then there was that day when I showed up to discover that my coworker had quit and was replaced with someone new to break in, twice.

But of all the things that come with October, it’s the head lice I’ll miss the least. That’s right. Apparently October is the official month for head lice to make an appearance. Now technically this happened in November, but October is the official season and quite frankly at this point everything bad is being blamed on October.

I’m pretty sure that we got the infestation it its early stages, just two bugs and a fifty or so eggs. But we found them after the evening bath, about ten minutes after the local drugstore closed. I don’t often miss things from America, but times like these I am left deeply reconsidering the Japanese approach to store hours. I’d even be willing to trade the typically decent-excellent customer service in Japan to have access to important medicine at 9 pm. But I can’t change things to suit my whims so I simply got down to combing them out and smashing them dead, old school style.

We’re still a little puzzled as to the source of the cooties, but the Mr. suspects a mini-garu at the toy store. At any rate, 頭虱　(atama shirami) are a common part of childhood, clean and grubby alike. Ours happened to be black in color, which made finding the eggs much easier on a blond child. The shampoo, a requirement for returning to school, was purchased as soon as the doors of the drug store opened. With a squeaky sanitized scalp and fresh pigtails, Olive made it to school in time for story time and lunch.

And at this point I think we can wash our hands of the dreadful month of October.